Top 10 countries by real-time payment transactions
The boom of ecommerce and the rising demand for instant payment methods amid the pandemic is accelerating a near cashless economy in many countries where central infrastructures are in place. This shift towards digital transactions and real-time transactions—and away from cash and checks—was well underway before COVID-19 exacerbated the need for payments solutions that could keep up with evolving consumer behavior.
Here are the top 10 countries with the biggest real-time payments market, by transactions:
- India – 46.8 billion
- China – 18.5 billion
- Thailand – 9.7 billion
- Brazil – 8.7 billion
- South Korea – 7.4 billion
- Nigeria – 3.7 billion
- UK – 3.4 billion
- US – 1.8 billion
- Japan – 1.7 billion
- Turkey – 1.4 billion
When banks, processors, acquirers, and tech firms look at the future of instant payments, they should look at India—the biggest real-time payments market by far, with 46.8 billion real-time payments transactions made in 2021, according to data from ACI Worldwide. What’s accelerating growth in the region is the fact that India’s payments infrastructure has been in place for nearly a decade now, and thanks to government-led initiatives aiming to drive financial inclusion for the bankless, real-time payments have been adopted by many.
Similar government-built infrastructures have been set up in China and Thailand, the second and third-largest real-time payments markets, respectively. Paper-based payments are still high in these countries—particularly among older consumers—so there is ample opportunity for growth, especially due to the size of the populations and the more comfortable consumers are getting with technology.
Overall, the number of real-time transactions around the world reached a record 118.3 billion in 2021, up 64.5% year-over-year (YoY).
Real-time payments in the US
Though the country’s share of all transactions doubled in 2020 because of the pandemic, volumes are still small compared to other payment methods. That’s because, compared to more longstanding and established markets in Asia, real-time payments in the US have been slower to roll out.
North America holds the highest growth potential at 36.5% from 2020 through 2025, however, as Canada and the US modernize their infrastructure and incumbent banks push services into the mainstream.
By 2026, real-time payments in the US are expected to skyrocket to $8.9 billion transactions—up from 1.8 billion transactions in 2022, per a PYMNTS report. The same report found that companies were drawn to real-time payments because they allow for greater visibility into cash flow and accounting.
Real-time payments stats and trends
What was once predominantly for entry-level use cases, such as peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, is now opening opportunities for merchants, billers, and corporations. Real-time infrastructures have the potential to handle payments of millions of dollars for business-to-business (B2B) uses, as they promise to create high-margin opportunities.
Markets with fewer incumbents, especially those with support from the government to drive financial inclusion, will scale at a faster pace. It’s served well for countries that have relied on real-time payments to distribute stimulus relief in light of the pandemic, which although an extreme event, stressed the importance of modernization roadmaps.
With an expected global growth rate of 12% by 2025, real-time payments are enabling convenience and control for all users—a strong reason why it’s on its way to becoming ubiquitous for national and regional payment networks.
The RTP space is about to get a lot more competitive, which makes these efforts to win over users more important than ever. FedNow is expected to launch in the summer of this year, which will likely be met with high business interest thanks to its federal backing and its ability to compete on costs.
